


Shelters

by nyitia02



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, bokuto has a bit of an unhealthy dependency?? i guess, i love to suffer, oikawa and iwa show up but only for a second, there is no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 09:29:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5738470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyitia02/pseuds/nyitia02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akaashi was strong. Stronger than Bokuto could ever be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shelters

**Author's Note:**

> i havent posted anything in a while since writing isn't coming easily right now, but i dug up this zombie au i wrote a couple months ago!! i think its pretty okay, but its a lot shorter than the things i usually write.. i basically only wrote it because i wanted to make myself suffer, enjoy~

Sometimes Bokuto wondered if coming to this abandoned shelter was the best decision he and Akaashi made since the beginning of this all. It was an old place; it looked like it'd been deserted for a while, and Akaashi was genuinely surprised at how little the place had been raided, if at all. There was still canned food and practically a warehouse full of ammo and the beds were still relatively comfortable, so the two decided it'd be smart to settle down there until they figured out what to do next.

  
And then they'd spent their first full day there and had one of their many Close Calls. At about two in the morning, Bokuto had woken up to Akaashi shaking him in a panic, hushing him immediately. Loud scratching sounds. The walls were being scratched at and the floorboards were creaking downstairs and Bokuto considered that normal gangs of people wouldn't be clawing the walls and walking slowly and dragging their feet like their legs were broken.

  
It was then when the two figured out why the place was abandoned and unraided. The shelter seemed to be a popular place for massive hoardes of zombies to pass through, and from that day on Akaashi was adamant about keeping the gun right next to the bed and moving up to the very top floor, because it sounded like they had a lot of trouble getting up the stairs without falling. They weren't going to leave, though, because there were supplies and they needed supplies, and they didn't have anywhere else to go except the forests surrounding them, which Bokuto did not want to spend another night in.

  
This life was better, Bokuto thought. Better than the days where they had stayed in their hometown, better than the days they'd spent squatting in the mall's stores, better than the days they'd spent wandering along roadsides and huddling for warmth at night in the horrible forest.

  
They were safe here. Even with those disgusting diseased bodies that Bokuto couldn't bear to call people, and the way they traveled in packs, sniffing around for food they didn't even need, they were safe. Even if it was lonely.

  
But Akaashi, oh Akaashi, Bokuto swore to himself that he wouldn't be lonely as long as he had Akaashi, and yeah, he would think about his old friends and wonder where the hell they were, but he wouldn't dwell on it for too long. Because it would make him too sad, and he had Akaashi and Akaashi was enough.

  
Bokuto lived for the mornings where he didn't wake up to darkness and rattling and scratching and scuffling noises outside, but instead woke up to actual morning light and Akaashi, laying on Bokuto's chest and getting some actual sleep for once. The mornings where he didn't have to look at Akaashi's panicked face because it showed no matter how hard he tried to hide it, gun held tightly to his chest, and instead got to look at him with mussed up bed hair and a sleepy smile.

  
On those days Akaashi would always mumble a good morning and peck him on the cheek, but Bokuto would pull him in for more than that and it wasn't like Akaashi ever complained about it. Before he knew it Akaashi's mouth would be on his, and he'd absolutely melt and pretend they weren't in a shelter, but living together in their own house with a world that wasn't overrun by flesh eating monsters. And once wandering hands got too out of control they were left with no option but to switch the sheets with another bed's and hope that no one else came through there and found any of the evidence.

  
Bokuto was so in love. He was so in love and it made his heart swell up and it was like the gray clouds in the sky and the spray painted calls for help spread across buildings didn't exist. He'd catch glimpses of Akaashi's smiles and know for certain that the world hadn't gone to complete shit yet.

  
But he was weak. Bokuto was weak and he knew it. Not physically; he was heavy with muscle and could easily hold his own in a fight if he had to. Mentally, emotionally, he was so, so weak. He cracked under pressure, couldn't help his tears or his panic, the thought of death was too much to handle.

  
Akaashi, though, Akaashi was strong. Stronger than Bokuto could ever be. He was smaller and lighter and a little bit faster, and Bokuto remembered when they first came to the shelter and smelled the overpowering scent of death coming from one of the rooms. When Akaashi had opened the door with his gun at the ready and they'd found nothing but a decomposing dog, a pet left over from when the shelter had been evacuated, Bokuto had cried. He'd teared up and couldn't stand to look at the poor thing, peeling fur and buzzing with flies, and he'd hid his face in Akaashi's shoulder until the younger boy's shirt was damp with tears. Bokuto still remembered the stone cold look on Akaashi's face when they dug the hole to put it in by Bokuto's request, but Bokuto saw the knit in Akaashi's eyebrows and he saw the sorrow. It was admirable. The way he'd handled it was amazing.

  
Then there was the time back when they stayed in their hometown and decided to go back to their old gym for memory's sake. Neither of them were expecting to find the remains of one of their old teammates, his old volleyball jacket in tatters just a couple feet away from his rotting body. Bokuto had almost vomited, feelings pouring out of his stomach and into his throat all at once, but Akaashi had done nothing but wince, kneeling down to pick up the jacket and hold it close to him for a second.

  
Akaashi was the person Bokuto looked up to. Akaashi was Bokuto's crutch. Akaashi was the love of Bokuto's life. 

Their survival depended on him. Akaashi was the one who reminded Bokuto on how to cook things properly. He was the one who made sure Bokuto kept the gun next to his bed. He was the one who stepped in when Bokuto's trigger would get stuck and the panic would start to set in. Akaashi picked him up when he was down.

  
In reality, Bokuto had no idea what he would do without him. 

He was so weak. Weak in the knees for Akaashi Keiji, and weak in the heart because he couldn't handle death, which really sucked because death seemed to be 90% of what the world had in store for him.

Then came the day they had to leave. Akaashi had told him the remaining food in storage had already gone bad, and reminded that there was a working shelter not too far away they could travel to in a couple of days. Bokuto remembered finding out about it from a small group of people they'd run into while passing through one of the cities. The leader of the group, who was a very tall, handsome guy, even though he looked like he hadn't showered in a couple days, said he and his friends were on their way over there themselves. One of the other guys, who was a little bit shorter but a lot beefier, had suggested they come along, but Akaashi had declined his offer and instead asked for directions for later.

  
Of course, leaving the abandoned shelter meant leaving their nice beds and going back into the forests for a bit, but Bokuto knew how badly Akaashi wanted to be in a place with other people, and Bokuto did feel the same way and didn't want to deny Akaashi that happiness just because he thought the forests were a Bad Place.

Besides, as much as he loved Akaashi, he couldn't help but think about his old friends, even though he'd told himself not to. Where was Kuroo? Or Kenma? And what about the boy with the glasses from Karasuno that the two had made friends with? Tsukishima was his name, if Bokuto wasn't mistaken. Akaashi wanted to see Kuroo and Kenma again, he knew that.

So with hope in their eyes, ammo in their pockets, and jackets for the cold, the two set out in the middle of the night. Akaashi had said that if there was a hoarde passing through, it'd be easier to stay hidden if it was dark. They escaped the shelter's property without incident or any Close Calls, but it was hard to get accustomed to walking for long periods of time again.

  
They had to catch small animals for food and Akaashi had made sure Bokuto knew not to fire his gun unless there was an emergency. Before Bokuto knew it, two days had already passed and nothing bad had happened. It left a sickly feeling of "everything's too okay" in the pit of Bokuto's stomach, and now every time he and Akaashi kissed, he made sure to treat it like it mattered more than Akaashi thought it did.

  
Akaashi would chuckle and ask why Bokuto had that serious look in his eyes, but Bokuto wouldn't tell him his doubts. He wanted to be strong, like Akaashi. He didn't want to show he was worried and instead told Akaashi that he thought he was beautiful and that he loved him so much. And Akaashi would give him that smile, the one that momentarily erased everything negative from the world and made Bokuto feel as if he were melting.

  
Melting into a puddle of warmth and happiness for a bit, but also melting into something a lot more negative. Bokuto would stay up for entire nights with Akaashi sleeping next to him, curled up into his side. He worried so much about Akaashi, about the forest, about where the hell they were going. Bokuto really didn't like the forests, and he had this horrible sense of dread looming over him, like something bad was bound to happen. He tried his hardest to push it away, though, because he had to remind himself that he always felt that way in previous forests, and both he and Akaashi had gotten out of all of those alive and well.

  
The days passed slowly and Bokuto's anxiety was beginning to bleed out when finally, it happened. The two of them were settling down for the night and Akaashi was telling Bokuto in hushed whispers about how they were almost there, just a little farther and they'd be at an actual shelter with an actual community and maybe they'd see some of their friends there-- when Bokuto heard a loud snapping noise coming from the darkness surrounding them.

  
He immediately began to panic. He saw Akaashi's eyes flash and heard how he muttered for Bokuto not to shoot anything but to have his gun ready just in case, but Bokuto heard the snapping sound again but louder and the pure terror drowned out all his senses. His hands were shaking and his fear of the woods was steadily flooding through him when realized at the last second that the safety on his gun had been off and he fired it into the air accidentally--

  
Everything from then on was a panicked blur of "oh fuck"s and branches cracking and pure unadulterated fear. It only intensified when Bokuto heard the noises a couple of seconds later. The noises from the abandoned shelter. The dragging and the scratching of nails on tree trunks and shuffling and creaky vocal cords _that shouldn't be working_.

  
Then it was hard to breathe, hard to think-- he'd shot his gun on accident and now a fucking pack was coming and it was all his fault, and Akaashi, where was Akaashi--

  
And they could've ran but Bokuto didn't know what he was doing and Akaashi wanted to make sure they had all their supplies or else they'd be helpless and back at square one, but it was much too late before Bokuto turned from stuffing what he could in his pockets and saw the pack was getting dangerously close and oh god it was so big there were so many of them

  
The sound of Akaashi's gun snapped Bokuto out of his panic and he saw the two closest zombies stutter in their steps but not fall completely. A glance at Akaashi and Bokuto saw for once the fear in his eyes because they were starting to close in on them and there was only so much space when they were surrounded by trees on all sides like this.

  
Bokuto's gun was stuck or maybe it wasn't, Bokuto couldn't tell but all he knew is that it wasn't firing, but the next thing he knew Akaashi's hand was on his arm and he was handing him his supplies, his jacket full of ammo and other things they'd brought along. Bokuto did not like where this was going.

  
He saw the solemn look in Akaashi's eyes and barely processed how he said "I'll try to hold them off". He didn't like where this was going at all. The gross things were somehow arranging themselves into the beginnings of a circle but Bokuto didn't want to leave.

  
It was Akaashi, Akaashi who he looked up to, his crutch, the love of his life, and the love of his life was telling him to run on ahead. None of the "we can't both get out but I can distract them so you can"s were getting through to him, so all Bokuto did was stand there and drown in a horrid mixture of panic and disbelief.

  
And then the tears came. Not from Bokuto, from Akaashi. Akaashi was crying and Bokuto couldn't bear to look at it, so he said his last "I love you" and turned and ran and pushed through a couple zombies but by now the tears were streaming down his face and they wouldn't stop.

  
He told himself not to, he really told himself not to, but Bokuto looked over his shoulder as he ran, heard the last gunshot go off, saw the circle close in with his very own eyes, but he still didn't hear Akaashi cry out once.

  
Akaashi was strong. So strong.

And now Bokuto was sobbing, tears coming so fast he could barely see where he was running and every tree looked like it was underwater. 

It was his fault and now Akaashi was being eaten alive, the love of his life, Akaashi had sacrificed himself so Bokuto could survive. Bokuto wasn't sure whether to feel grateful for having someone like that in his life or guilty because he'd caused the whole mess.

It wasn't until his tears died down and he was left standing a good ways away from where the Incident had happened when he realized he had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He knew there was a shelter so close by but without Akaashi there wasn't really a point anymore. He wanted to go back to the abandoned shelter but then he'd have to pass by the place where Akaashi was and Bokuto was more sure than he'd ever been about anything that he didn't have it in him to do that.

So he kept going. He kept walking forwards, sniffling every now and then, trying not to think about Akaashi and his warmth and how he smiled and how he laughed, and how he protected Bokuto with everything he had and how he felt so right against him because that would bring the tears again and he was sure Akaashi wouldn't want that.

Bokuto kept walking. He needed to find the shelter, he needed to find his friends, he needed to be strong. Strong like Akaashi.

He was still so in love.


End file.
